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Having rung bells for the Queen's Coronation in 1953 and to mark the deaths of King George VI and Prince Philip, one local bell-ringer is preparing to ring for tomorrow's Coronation.
70 years after ringing the bells for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, Robin Pittman will ring a peal for King Charles III this weekend.
He might even be the only person who will have rang bells at both Coronations and rang a half-muffled bell to mark the death of Prince Philip, while many other countries were in lockdown.
Mr Pittman will be ringing the bells at St John’s Parish Church this weekend to mark the Coronation.
However, he doesn't think that his achievements are particularly notable.
"I don’t think it’s anything very remarkable and I am sure there are many other ringers who did this," he said.
Mr Pittman first rang a peal in Essex in 1952 for the death of King George VI, after learning to ring in 1950.
Pictured: Robin Pittman (left) at the age of 15.
He explained: "I was a boy of 14, and the verger of the church in Essex saw three of us coming out of a Bible class. He said: 'Right, you three, I want to see you ringing.'
"I rang a lot. I learnt to ring fairly quickly."
Soon, he was ringing to mark the death of King George VI, and then for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth the following year.
After completing his national service, Mr Pittman continued ringing throughout his time as a student at Oxford, where there was a strong bell-ringing scene.
He said: "For my years at university there, I rang a great deal. Other people in the 1950s drank, or they read, or they played games. I played bells."
Pictured (left to right): Robin Pittman, Tim Clarke, and Tower Captain Justin Read. (Rev Beverley Sproats)
Mr Pittman worked as a teacher for 31 years, both as a history teacher and a headteacher. During this time he stopped ringing completely, only picking it back up when he retired. He moved to Jersey around 20 years ago.
There are only two churches in Jersey with ringable bell towers: St John’s Church with eight bells and St Mark’s Chuch with six. Mr Pittman laments that because of this, people in Jersey don’t know much about bell ringing.
Jersey’s bell ringers have had a busy week leading up to the Coronation, winning Saturday’s inter-island competition against Guernsey.
In bell-ringing, a judge counts faults played by each team. Jersey "annihilated" Guernsey with 33 faults against Guernsey's 174, said Justin Read, Tower Captain at St John’s.
Alderney’s bell-ringers could not make it because of issues travelling to Jersey.
Lieutenant-Governor Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd visited St John’s Parish Church on Tuesday for the last rehearsal before the Coronation and tried his hand at bell-ringing.
He turned out to be "a very good bell-ringer", according to Mr Read.
"Ringing for events such as coronations is essential for a bell-ringer," said Mr Read. "That’s what we’re here for. We ring for our own enjoyment, but the whole idea is to ring for the church services, to support Beverley [Sproats, Rector of St John’s Church], and at weddings.
"And in recent history, it’s been for royal funerals and Coronations."
Mr Read said that a good bell-ringer needs a sense of co-ordination, good rhythm, and acute senses to be able to work as a team.
They also need some patience as it can take some time to learn.
Anyone is welcome to try ringing, and younger ringers are encouraged to get involved as they often find it easier to learn. Bell-ringing also qualifies as a service or a skill in the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Mr Pittman says that though Jersey has an active group of bell-ringers, including some very good young ringers, recruitment is difficult.
"70 years ago, there were more young people who were involved in the church," he said. "Fewer of them are and that makes recruitment for ringers something of a problem."
Recruitment takes place mostly through word of mouth, and youth groups get opportunities to visit.
Mr Pittman says he values both the art of ringing and the community.
He explained: "It’s about the pleasure of ringing and taking it to a higher art, because it can become more and more complex. There is also the camaraderie of ringing.
"It’s physically not overly demanding but it is good exercise. And we go to the pub after our practice."
Bell-ringers will be at St John’s Church from 9:00 on Saturday and anyone can come along to watch. The idea is to ring a set quarter peal – a set number of changes – before the coronation service so that ringers and audiences can subsequently watch the coronation service.
After the service, the ringing will be reported to Buckingham Palace to keep an official record that the bells were rung for the King.
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